Related Information

Young Carers

If you look after someone at home, a brother or sister or parent or grandparent and you find you are not getting time for your homework, or are not able to go out with your friends, or are feeling more and more isolated or you just want to talk to someone, then then you can talk to your Named Person and they should be able to link you up with the North Lanarkshire Young Carers Project who may be able to support you. There is now a new law that supports Young Carers.

www.northlanarkshireyoungcarers.org

Children and young people experiencing care

If you have been referred to the Children’s Reporter you may have a supervision order in place which states where you should live and with whom.

If you are a looked after child or young person you will have a Lead Professional, that person will be your social worker. You will have a Child’s Plan which your social worker will keep up to date. You still have a Named Person in school who you can talk to if you have any worries or concerns about your wellbeing.

Child protection

It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure all our children and young people are safe and protected from harm. If you have information about a child or young person that makes you concerned that they may be at risk of harm, then you should speak to someone about it immediately.

All council and health board employees have a member of staff who is their Child Protection Officer/Advisor whom they can discuss their concerns with or get advice from. Each organisation and service have clear Child Protection policy and guidelines in place and these should be followed.

For anyone else with a concern they should discuss their concerns with Social Work or Police directly.

Additional Support Needs

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as amended 2009 provides a framework for supporting children and young people in their school education, and their families. It introduces the concept of additional support needs. This broad and inclusive term applies to all children and young people who, for whatever reason, require additional support, long or short term, in order to help them to work towards achieving their full potential and be fully included in their learning. This is supported by the inclusive ethos of A Curriculum for Excellence and the principles of Getting it Right for Every Child.

All schools follow a staged intervention process which allows establishments to identify needs, using wellbeing as a framework and to plan for children and young people, who may require additional support to be put in place, to enable them to benefit from their school education.

Additional support falls into three broad overlapping headings, approaches to learning and teaching, support from personnel and provision of resources. A Getting it right for me plan (Girfme plan) will record any additional support a child or young person receives.

Where there is a need for coordination of support being provided (by at least one agency other than education) for a child or young person to enable them to access learning, and that support is likely to last for a year or more, then a Coordinated Support Plan (CSP) should be considered and implemented if required.

The CSP is a legal document and guidance on its use can be found in Policy into Practice 2, appendix 2 (Management Circular C4)

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